


The Moonlight Fades Too

by Jakowic



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
Genre: Gen, M/M, daemon AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-17
Updated: 2018-08-17
Packaged: 2019-06-22 22:43:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15592419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jakowic/pseuds/Jakowic
Summary: Five times Harry Potter is impressed by a daemon and their bright companion. — And the one time he's reluctantly impressed by an insufferable prat.(Daemon AU)





	The Moonlight Fades Too

**Author's Note:**

> honestly ? implied drarry is My Shit. also i'm so sorry for like. deviating or whatever but ! have this cute little AU No One Ever Asked For

i.  **ron weasley**

Hedwig won’t settle her form for a minute and it’s embarrassing him, and he’s already embarrassed because he didn’t know how to get on the platform. The nice woman with red hair and a chameleon perched on her shoulder doesn’t seem bothered by it in the slightest, alternately bombarding him with motherly questions and ignoring him in favor of attempting to tame her children. Harry doesn’t mind, The Dursleys usually ignore him completely when they’re not being mean to him.

The two boys who look exactly alike both have little chicks balancing precariously on top of their heads, nestled safely in the boys’ curls. Neither one of them seems to notice, too busy describing the horrifying Sorting ceremony and cackling in delight when their little brother goes white. He’s got a chipmunk in his pocket and a rat on his shoulder. Harry can’t figure out which one is the daemon.

“Yours likes to fly, yeah?” One of the twins asks, jerking his chin at Hedwig, whose circling his head frantically in the shape of a monarch butterfly.

“She likes space to stretch out,” Harry says sagely. He’s not sure if he should explain the cupboard or not.

Children’s daemons tend not to settle until puberty or early twenties, the later the settle happens the more unstable the person tends to be. Dudley’s is either a huge, fat, immovable rabbit or a sharp-eyed magpie. Leo hasn’t settled yet, but Harry has a feeling the fat lard is already halfway there. Hedwig changes twice as much as any daemon Harry has ever met before, erratic and out of her skin, a completely new animal every time Harry so much as blinks. It’s entertaining when they’re locked in the cupboard together, but distracting at any other time.

“I’m Fred,” the same twin says. “This is Georgina.”

“I’m George,” the other twin says. He gestures to his hair. “That’s Fredrica.”

“O-okay,” Harry says. “Mine’s Hedwig.”

“I’m Ron,” the boy says, later when he’s taken the empty seat across from Harry. They’re on the train, Harry’s never been on a train before. He has a smear of dirt on his nose. “Ron Weasley. The chipmunk in my pocket is Jules, and Scabbers on my shoulder used to be my brother’s Hogwarts choice pet.”

Harry stares at him. “You have a hand me down pet?” Ron turns a ruddy shade of red and Harry can’t help it - his face breaks into a huge grin. “That’s brilliant!”

 _Shall keep him,_ Hedwig thinks contentedly from where her huge wolf body is curled up on the seat next to Harry.

Later, on the stone steps up to the castle, a blond boy with flat, silver snake eyes accosts them, smirking. He sticks his hand out to Harry, head up, shoulders thrown back. The small diamond head of a white fox pokes out between the blond boy’s legs. Harry recognizes the daemon from the robes shop.

“I’m Malfoy, Draco Malfoy. This is Algernon,” Malfoy gestures to his daemon.

The corner of Harry’s mouth lifts automatically. He’d read _Flowers for Algernon_ over a weekend locked in the cupboard. It’s a nice name, he’s sure.

“Do you think my name is funny?” Malfoy asks acidly. “Don’t worry, Potter. You’ll soon find some wizarding families are better than others.” he cuts his eyes purposefully towards Ron. “You wouldn’t want to make friends with the wrong sort.”

Harry doesn’t take Malfoy’s hand. He sticks his own rather deliberately into the pockets of his robes. 

“Thank you,” he says. “But I think I can tell the wrong sort for myself.”

Ron snickers, and Malfoy’s glittering eyes lock on him. His mouth curls into a cruel smile, sharp and dangerous.

“Let me guess. You’re a Weasley -- it’s plain as day. Red hair, hand-me down robes, a false sense of superiority from being kicked out of your families.” Malfoy raises his chin again. “You’re not any better than the rest of us,” the smirk returns, full blast, “you’re just poorer.”

Ron’s face has gone slack with fury, his cheeks bright, fiery red. Jules growls, a loud, rumbly sound that catches the attention of everyone gathered. She’s a badger now, baring her teeth and lunging for Malfoy’s ankles. With a shriek, Algernon turns into a white coyote and dives for Jules’ throat, keeping her away from Malfoy. Harry can feel his heartbeat in his throat, a sharp, sweet power fills his veins. He’s terrified for both daemons; and Malfoy’s face looks slack with horror. 

Hedwig roars, and a huge silverback gorilla picks up both daemons in her huge paws, setting them down on opposite sides of her. She shows them her teeth, arguably larger and more deadly. Neither Ron nor Malfoy say another word.

As they gather in front of the doors to enter the Great Hall, Ron leans close to Harry’s ear. 

“I’m sorry,” he says, voice heavy in its sincerity. It makes Harry stiffen.

“Don’t be,” he whispers back. “I think it was brave; you stood up for yourself.”

Ron’s smile lights up the hall much more than the thousand floating candles could ever hope to do.

 

{ ~ }

 

ii. **hermione granger**

In between the moments they figure out that Hermione is in the bathroom with a troll and they actually physically get there, Samuel has turned into a lion, which is a vast difference from his normal pig-shaped body and it momentarily throws Harry off so badly he stands, frozen, staring at Samuel’s shiny mane and his body shielding Hermione as she cowers in the corner.

“Oh, bollocks,” Ron says as Jules turns into a giraffe.

“Does she know how to fight?” Harry asks as she charges. This is not the first time she hasn’t chosen the best form to pick a fight.

“You’d think, living in my family.”

Samuel roars and Hedwig seems to agree with the sentiment, charging into the fray as a baboon, which is what she looked like when Harry woke up and he’d decided to roll with it, letting her moon the Slytherins all day without mercy. Malfoy and Algernon had not liked it one bit.

Harry and Ron whip out their wands, brandishing them at the troll as it waves its club around, bellowing, furious about the furrows that Hedwig has dug into its flesh and the bruises Jules has peppered all over its legs.

“The club!” Hermione calls, reaching over Samuel with her wand.

“Leviosa!” Ron cries. “Lift it up! Let’s bash his head in!”

When Snape and Dumbledore arrive, they’re on the floor, their daemons tiny little creatures burrowed in their robes and they’re laying on the ground, panting from the spellwork and the horrible smell.

 

{ ~ }

 

iii. **dean thomas**

Dean’s daemon is the first to settle, a tiny golden tamarin with long, dexterous fingers that carry Dean’s art pencils for him and cling to his curls as he rides around on Dean’s head all day. He’s got beady, black little eyes and Hedwig loves him, sometimes she turns into a monkey for the sole purpose of grooming him. It only seems to embarrass Ron, for unexplainable reasons, and Seamus’s own daemon lets Roger ride on his back all the time.

Roger and Mcnamar are almost as synonymous as Dean and Seamus, interchangeable as one water molecule is to another. They’re fourteen and Harry’s going to die this year in the tournament, but Roger’s settled tonight and they’re sitting in the dorm room, making their way through a crate of butterbeer and celebrating.

Hedwig is turning from brightly feathered parrot to kangaroo to grizzly bear, but none of them pay her any mind, all of them are cooing over Roger and Dean, who’s smiling brightly at his little monkey, but would deny it under Cruciatus. Roger is sitting on Mcnamar’s back, who thinks being a toucan right about now seems to fit the mood, and preening, petting his little hands through his gold mane and chittering at them. Jules buzzes up and settles, a green dragonfly, on Neville’s shoulder.

Trevor doesn’t do much, just side-eyes all of them from the top of Neville’s bed, a snooty ocelot with red eyes, flicking his tail back and forth, back and forth.

“Hey, Ron,” Dean says. It sounds serious and the room sobers up immediately, Hedwig even pauses in her frantic sprint around the room, becoming a heavy tortoise momentarily and pushing all the air out of Harry’s lungs when she lands in his lap. “What would you say if I asked Ginny out?”

Hedwig turns into a yellow canary, instantly losing interest in the conversation. Harry does the same, instead zeroing on the little Horntail dragon that’s fallen asleep on his bedside table. Ron and him aren’t talking still, technically, and Seamus is sitting between them, stubbornly kind as usual. He can see Hedwig staring longingly at Jules, though, and it rankles more than anything.

Ron snorts. “Mate, I’d say be careful. Go ahead, just don’t get your head bit off.”

A raucous laugh goes up around the dorm. Regina never turns into anything but a predator, big ones, and she skulks around without Ginny on occasion, which disturbs everyone except the professors, who never seem disturbed by abnormal daemon behaviour.

“Am I late?” Hermione bursts in, breathless, arms full of books. “Oh, I’m so sorry. I really didn’t mean to.”

“Hey,” Dean says, scooting over, making a spot between him and Ron. “No worries. We get it, saving Harry Potter’s life. Full-time job.”

All eyes in the circle focus on him and he doesn’t know what to do with that, stupidly out of his depth all of a sudden.

“It, uh,” Hermione blushes. “It wasn’t for him. I was with Viktor.”

“Ah, yes,” Ron leans back, his palms on the floor. “Let’s spend time with the professional Quidditch player rather than saving The Chosen One’s life.”

Hermione’s brows bunch together and her mouth sets in a flat line. “I didn’t see _you_ at the library.”

“Was I self-appointed to save his life? No. I _was_ self-appointed, however, to not even come close to dying once this year.”

How those words seem like ironic foreshadowing as Harry stands on the edge of the lake, shivering. Ron’s missing, Hermione can’t find him anywhere, Dobby was being incredibly weird, which is a feat worthy of world records, and now Dean comes sprinting up to him, breathless.

“Neville said to give you this,” he plops a slimy wad of what looks like seaweed in Harry’s outstretched palm, and Roger scampers from Dean’s arm to Harry’s. He sucks in a sharp breath at the contact, but Dean doesn’t. “You need to take Roger with you. I know Hedwig isn’t allowed, but…” Dean glances around and leans closer. “The rules don’t say anything about this.”

“Dean,” Harry tries. “I-”

But Dean turns on his heel and runs up the hill, back to the stands. Roger’s little paws on his body make him shiver, the heat Roger radiates is almost like a fire. He’s never touched another person’s daemon, not even by accident, the action is intimate, no one touches another person’s daemon. Little kids can get away with it, by virtue of them not quite understanding, but daemons are a manifestation of a person’s soul, a guardian, something that no one should just put their hands on.

He wonders why Dean would do this for him, this blatant show of blind trust. Harry smiles at the ground. He sticks some of the gillyweed in his mouth and some in Roger’s before he dives with the rest of the champions, chewing past the foul taste. Roger clings to his hair as Harry swims through the gloom, trying to make out anything that might be what he’s missing.

“Only take one,” the merperson hisses at him, later, when he’s struggling to get Ron’s chains off of him and Hermione’s at the same time.

“She’s my friend, too,” he protests, cross.

But it’s VIktor that rescues Hermione, and Cedric that rescues Cho. He’s left with Ron and a little girl, face placid, eyes closed peacefully in sleep. Her blond hair floats in the water, bright tendrils of light in the dark.

Harry waits, clinging to Ron’s stiff body, waiting for Fleur to come rescue this girl. As twenty minutes turns into five, Harry realizes that Fleur isn’t coming. He can’t leave this girl here. Her takes the chains off of Ron and has Roger get the girl’s off while he chatters to the merperson, attempting to distract her.

It works, and Dean is the second person to throw his arms around Harry’s neck.

 

{ ~ }

 

iv. **madame pomfrey**

Harry ends up in the infirmary before the week lets up, which surprises about negative nine hundred people in the castle. Zane, a huge, fluffy, saint bernard dog, trots around after Pomfrey, carrying a basket full of bandages and potions alike, sitting respectfully next to the beds of the people she’s treating. He’s alone, today, so Zane is just sitting, stoic, by the foot of Harry’s bed.

Hedwig is curled up on his knees as a groundhog, snuffling quietly.

“Potter,” Pomfrey says, her cool fingers swipe his fringe away from his forehead. “You need to stop getting yourself into trouble.”

“I wish I could.”

She smiles. “You’ll just stay here until morning.”

She bustles away to her little office that Harry suspects doubles as a room. Visiting hours are over, but both Ron and Hermione had sat on his bed and worried, while Samuel, Jules and Hedwig had played tag. It was a very reflective moment for Harry.

The door opens, a creak in the doorway, a sliver of light lighting up the dim infirmary. Both Hedwig and Zane raise their heads, alert, warily watching the door. Harry sees the snout of a white fox poke its way in, then follows the rest of Algernon, and then Malfoy. His eyes are large and silver in the pale light, almost luminous, glowing.

“Lumos,” Harry breathes out, and the tip of his wand ignites.

“Potter,” Malfoy whispers. He travels the space between them like a ghost, like his weight doesn’t matter at all. He hovers over Harry, and his face is drawn and pinched in fear. “I can’t sleep,” he whispers.

“I don’t know what you want me to do about that,” Harry answers honestly, shrugging.

“I decided to come to see if you’d die,” Malfoy sniffs, like he’s just noticed for the first time his haughtiness has deserted him.

The corner of Harry’s mouth lifts, Hedwig nudges at him. _Kind, please, he wants kind_. He curls his body so he’s sitting cross-legged on the bed, pulling Hedwig firmly into his lap. She struggles briefly, turning into a bearded dragon. Algernon is the first to leap onto the bed and lay down in the spot Harry’s legs have deserted. Malfoy follows, hesitant, like he doesn’t know what’s happening.

“What did I miss in potions?” Harry asks lightly, too tired to fight.

The light to Pomfrey’s office flicks on and both of them freeze, but Zane gets up and pads over to her room, nudging open the door and disappearing inside. She doesn’t come out, and a few minutes later the light flicks back off.

“Did…” Malfoy’s eyebrows crease. “Did that daemon just lie for us?”

Harry laughs.

 

{ ~ }

 

v.  **luna lovegood**

Wint turns into a huge golden eagle, picking up Ginny by her shoulders and flying her away from the Death Eaters, out through the shattered glass roof. Regina struggles against Lucius Malfoy briefly, keening after Ginny. Harry, Ron and Luna press their shoulders together, forming a circle, wands out.

Wint flies back in, claws empty, screeching unholy revenge and Ron jerks, casting a shaky _Reducio_ at a masked Death Eater, who promptly shrinks to the size of a toddler.

“What the hell,” Lucius says, poison coating his voice. “You will _pay_ for that.”

“Stay back,” Harry snaps, from his flank Hedwig snarls in agreement.

Wint screeches again, sharp eyes focused solely on Regina. Luna shifts, twists her arm to point at Lucius too, and Ron’s still got his wand up against four more Death Eaters.

“We can’t have you dead,” Lucius simpers. “Come on, Potter. Come quietly,” Lucius presses the tip of his wand against Regina’s throat, “or your friend won’t have her Daemon.”

Wint shrieks again and without warning, he dives, heading straight for Lucius. Harry cries “ _Expelliarmus!_ ” the same time Luna casts a fireworks charm, making Lucius Malfoy jerk away from the lights the same moment his wand flies into Harry’s hand. Wint scoops up Regina in his claws and soars out through the shattered ceiling.

“Let’s get out of here!” Ron cries as all the Death Eaters light up their wands, preparing to cast.

When they're on the backs of the Thestrals again, a safe distance from the Minsitry, Ron asks what they're all thinking.

"Why don't none of the Death Eaters got a Daemon?"

"He kills them," Luna says. "I bet Voldemort kills them."

None of them talk for the rest of the night.

 

{ ~ }

 

& i. **draco malfoy**

Harry’s face feels numb, and his heart rate picks up when Bellatrix grabs Hermione’s arm and yanks her away from them, grinning viciously. Stupidly, Samuel chatters and hisses, situating himself between them, like an otter can ever stop Bellatrix from getting what she wants.

Bellatrix grins maniacally and kicks Samuel in the stomach. Both Hermione and Samuel cry out as one, and Harry feels Ron’s muscles coil, like he’s going to leap at them.

“Well, Draco,” Bellatrix says, voice high pitched and sharply mocking. “Is it? Is it him?”

“Go on, Draco,” Lucius says, pushing him toward Harry. “Tell us. Is it Potter?”

Draco drops to his knees, right in front of Harry, and that’s when he sees Algernon. He’s turned himself into a tiny albino snake, wrapped in the holes where Draco’s buttons should be, shyly flicking out his tongue. Hedwig is the same type of snake, but bright red, like a warning, tucked under the collar of his jacket. If Draco’s eyes don’t recognize Harry, Algernon should recognize them both instantly. Draco bites his lip, eyes sliding up to Harry’s forehead, where the scar is stretched and plastic-looking.

His eyes drop to Hedwig and his lips part, and Harry thinks he’d say ‘oh’ if the situation were less dire. Harry, absently, wonders how that would sound.

“I…” Draco stands up and goes back to his mother. “I can’t be sure.”

“Ugh,” Bellatrix says, disgusted. She stomps over to Ron and Harry, dragging them to their feet by the ropes. “We’ll interrogate them, find out where the Potter boy is. I’ll start with the girl.”

In the dungeon, Ollivander, Luna and Dobby don’t say a word when Harry and Ron are thrown in with them. Wint coos out a hello. He’s in his huge golden shape, giant wings cradling Luna’s head, his own beak tucked under the ragged curtain of her hair. Hedwig doesn’t move, neither does she change her shape. Both Leonard and Jules have settled their forms sometime in the forest, Hedwig is the only one still sharply unsettled. Bellatrix cackles on her way back up the steps.

A few minutes later, distantly, upstairs, he can hear a scream, then the sharp shriek of an animal. Harry feels like he’s going to vomit. Ron goes pale and drops heavily onto the stones, leaning his back against the bars. Harry crouches near him, giving him space.

Harry can’t see Ollivander’s daemon, and Dobby clings to Luna’s hand.

It’s awful, the sound is heartbreaking, and Harry shuts himself down, turns off his feeling and forces himself to go numb. It goes on and on and on. Harry doesn’t know how long.

Hedwig, very suddenly, wiggles out from Harry’s coat and drops onto the stones. In between the bars Algernon slithers, heading straight for Hedwig. They entwine their bodies and Harry’s face goes hot. He looks up, hands gripping the bars as he peers into the gloomy hall.

Draco melts out of the dark, and Harry can see his hands are shaking.

“Potter,” he says. “It really is you.”

The hex must have worn off, but Harry only feels both relief and terror sing sharp in his veins.

“We’ve taken down the wards, you can apparate away if you get upstairs,” Draco slips all four of their wands out of his sleeve. “I… I don’t know why I’m doing this,” he says, even as he casts Alohomora on the door.

Ron and Luna rush past him, up the stairs to Hermione, Ollivander and Dobby on their heels. Harry stops, looks at Draco, then down to Hedwig where she’s still all curled up with Algernon.

“Come with us,” Harry says before he’s really thinking about what he’s going to say.

“I… he’ll kill my family.”

“He won’t,” Harry says firmly. “He won’t, I won’t let him.”

“Harry,” Draco says, voice low. “He’ll kill my family.”

“Come with me,” Harry says, helpless. “Please.”

Draco shifts, eyes rolling up to look at the ceiling. Harry waits for a beat, then two, heart lodging firmly in his throat. Harry feels disappointment snake hot in his gut, and he turns, takes the steps out of the dungeon two at a time, tugging at Hedwig in his mind.

 _Harry,_ she implores. _Stay? Harry._

He ignores her. He can still hear Hermione’s screams.

Upstairs, Luna and Ollivander sneak around to the fireplace, where a portkey glows softly, Dobby on their heels, directing them around. Harry, Jules, Ron and Hedwig creep closer to Bellatrix and Hermione, staying on their hands and knees behind furniture while they search for an opportunity. Samuel is curled up on her chest, whimpering in tune with the tears falling down her face.

Luna reaches up and grabs the bust from the fireplace mantel and the sound makes Bellatrix look up. Harry, Ron, Jules and Hedwig lunge at the same time, Harry tackling Bellatrix off Hermione while Ron and Jules grab her and rush her to the fireplace on the opposite side of the room.

“ _What was that noise?_ ” Lucius bellows from down the hall. Bellatrix starts to scream, honest to god shrieking like a slighted toddler.

Harry can’t get his wrist to twist in the right way to cast from the way all three of them are tangled up. All three of the Malfoys appear at the door, Lucius’ eyes are wild, Narcissa’s face drawn and pinched, Draco’s eyes wide. Harry grunts, attempts to force Bellatrix to release her wand, keeping her wild flailing far away from his body.

“ _Protego_ _!_ ” someone shouts and Harry’s thrown off of Bellatrix and he lands heavy on his side, his whole left arm stinging from the indelicacy of the spell.

He groans, rolls to his knees and looks up to see Bellatrix pointing her wand at his face, chest heaving, eyes deranged. He can feel Hedwig with Jules, he can feel her gnawing urgency. The portkey is scheduled to leave soon, he needs to get out of this mess.

“Harry Potter,” Bellatrix says triumphantly. “We’ve been waiting for you.”

Suddenly, Bellatrix is being knocked over by a blur of pure white and there are hands grasping Harry’s shoulders, yanking him up and pushing him toward the fireplace. Algernon is a giant albino lion, pinning Bellatrix as Harry and Draco stumble to their friends.

Harry grabs Ron’s arm just as the portkey starts to pull, and his ears fill with white noise, Draco’s cry of “Algernon!” the last echo in his head.

They land on a beach, scattered in a semi-circle, Algernon’s mane in Harry’s mouth, his huge front paws crushing his chest. They sit up, groggy and confused. Draco’s hand twitches against the soft curve of Harry’s throat.

“Oh,” Draco says, sounding surprised. “He’s settled. How are we gonna hide him?”

Harry smiles.


End file.
